For long guns and hand guns alike, there has been a longstanding need for an improved cartridge carrier with a cartridge dispenser. The users of such a device, including game hunters, target shooters, police and military personnel, have common needs in respect to the attributes of such a device. Heretofore, the cartridge carriers and dispensers which are available on the market fall in the category of ammunition belts, vests or a belt-mounted device. The belts and vests are characterized as having a plurality of pockets for individual cartridges and thus requiring the user to reach to a different location for each successive cartridge. Belt-mounted devices with a cartridge dispenser are characterized by moving parts and relatively complex mechanisms. Some of such cartridge carriers and dispensers are relatively costly and subject to failure. Further, some are lacking in respect to ease and quickness of use and in respect of personal safety and protection for the cartridges. The firearms art is replete with devices which represent efforts to meet the various needs for a cartridge carrier and dispenser.
The Hudkins U.S. Pat. No. 1,800,731 granted Apr. 14, 1931 discloses an ammunition carrier comprising plural fabric tubes carried by a sling and a belt. Each fabric tube is provided with a metal receptacle at the bottom which has a side opening with integral clamping fingers on opposite sides of the opening. The cartridge falls from the tube into the receptacle and rests on the bottom thereof and is retained against falling out by the clamping fingers. Space is provided to permit the user to grasp the cartridge and pull it through the friction fit of the clamping fingers. The Hudkins carrier uses a plurality of tubes to carry a large number of shells but each tube requires a separate dispensing mechanism. Accordingly, there are several different locations which the user must search to find a cartridge. The fabric tubes can bend and thus prevent the cartridge from dropping into the receptacle. The Hudkins ammunition carrier requires a number of different straps and belts to hold it in place. The clamping fingers of the receptacle are susceptable to catching on heavy underbrush and being permanently bent to an open position and thus allow cartridges to fall out.
The Hammond U.S. Pat. No. 54,147 granted Apr. 24, 1866 discloses a sling-type cartridge carrier with two leather tubes which feed cartridges through a mechanical gate into a dispenser at the bottom. The cartridge is held in the dispenser by an upper pivoted catch pin and a spring loaded sleeve carries the cartridge to a lower catch pin from which it is removed for use. The leather tubes of this cartridge are not rigid and therefore, the tubes collapse and prevent the cartridges from feeding into the dispenser. The dispenser is comprised of movable pins, stops and springs and is subject to fouling due to dirt, sticks, ice formation and the like.
The Walker U.S. Pat. No. 568,220 granted Sept. 22, 1896 discloses a cartridge carrier of the sling-type in which a pair of cloth tubes terminate in respective outlet tubes at the bottom. A stop-head at the open end of each tube prevents the cartridges from falling out. A releasing push bar is operated by the thumb of the user to spread the bottom ends of the tubes apart so that the cartridges can clear the stop-head and the user can grasp and remove one or both cartridges as desired. In this device, the flexible tubes can collapse and prevent the cartridges from feeding into the outlet tubes. Also, the cartridges can hang up on the junction between the cloth tube and the outlet tube. The releasing push bar mechanism is subject to fouling and subject to inadvertent actuation by underbrush and the like. In Walker, the cartridges must be loaded from the bottom and loading would be difficult while the carrier is being worn.
The Feis U.S. Pat. No. 4,381,845 granted May 3, 1983 discloses a belt carried dispenser of rigid construction in which shotgun shells are fed in a sideways position down a vertical tube to a spring loaded push button type dispenser. This dispenser requires the user to wear a belt at the waist level on the outside of the user's coat. The push bar of this device is exposed and could be actuated inadvertently in the underbrush. The feed mechanism is subject to malfunction in that the sideways feed of the cartridges and the clear space in the housing permits them to bounce around and lodge in a canted or upright position.
A general object of this invention is to provide an improved cartridge carrier with a dispenser which overcomes certain disadvantages of the prior art.